Jayson's Inner Kelly Clarkson

Not a lot of excitement today.  We slept in a little then hopped in the car and headed toward Redfield for lunch.  Along the way I spotted a little point of interest in Benton, AR that I at least wanted a picture of.  It's the world's only building made from bauxite which is a beautifully colored aluminum ore.

We pulled into Redfield just in time for lunch and made our way over to the Mammoth Orange Cafe.  It looks just like it does in the pictures I've seen!  The food and atmosphere are exactly like every Dixie Dog, Tastee Freez or small town Dairy Queen on the planet.  The Green Family walked in, sat down, and immediately whipped out our cell phones to take pictures, update our FB status and answer a few texts.  At the same time, a rippling silence fell across the Mammoth Orange as its people detected alien beings in their midst.  The deafening silence caught my attention and when I scanned the diner I saw that we had no hope of blending in with these plaid clad patrons.  I didn't even know you could still buy shirts with pearly snaps on them.  Or maybe you can't.

They had some background music playing but I wasn't really even aware of what it was.  Maybe country music, I'm not sure.  Jayson started singing along and Taylor got all embarrassed and told him to stop.  I told her to lighten up, we're on vacation and Daddy is just having a little fun.  Taylor said, "Omigosh, Mom, you don't know what it's like!!  When you're not home Daddy will bust out into a Kelly Clarkson song for no reason!" Wow.  I had no idea.  I hope CPS doesn't get wind of that.

Our food was good, nothing spectacular, just good.  It reminded me a lot of Gene's Tasty Burger back home but with less grease.  Everything I've read about the Mammoth Orange said to make sure you have a milkshake so we got one to go before we left.  Omigosh.  That was the most fantastic chocolate shake I've ever had.  I'm not sure what that girl put in it but the flavor was perfect and the consistency was exactly as it should be...not too thick, not too thin.  I hope we can make it back through there on the way home.  I want a butterscotch shake.

A few minutes later we cruised into North Little Rock and landed at the Old State House Museum.  It's a beautiful building that used to be the state capital but now has some interesting exhibits.  One is called "Badges, Bandits and Bars" and is all about Arkansas law and justice.  We got to see 2 retired electric chairs, Old Sparky I and Old Sparky II, as well as the Tucker Telephone and other torture devices from Tucker Prison.  That's just fun for the whole family!  They had information on lots of local criminals and gangsters which made us feel all smart and educated since we already learned about most of them at the Gangster Museum.

As soon as you step into some of the rooms in the museum, a recording automatically starts playing and tells you about the things you're looking at.  Poor Taylor seemed to forget about that from room to room because every time it happened she jumped 10 feet off the ground then crouched down and covered the back of her head like a 3rd grader in a tornado drill.  She's a jumpy little thing but then so is her mama.

It rained pretty good this afternoon but hopefully tomorrow it will be dry enough for us to visit Pugh's Mill Park before heading north to Harrison, AR.  I keep looking over my shoulder half expecting to run into Tim & Trish again.  Our luck, they'll show up the next time we're caught in an embarrassing situation...or when we're naked.  But that won't happen because we've vowed to never be naked again.